Re-evolving Europe

Britain: Seeing A
Sea-Change

By Ridhi
Chhabra/London

All photos by the author. Copyright:
Right Impact Media Inc.

A
good conversation
with a resident of long standing in a foreign land
can lead to profound understanding of that country
and its people. During my stay at Hemel Hempstead
in England, I was all too curious to know how a
country that ruled mine (India) has changed over
the decades. I was fortunate in meeting the Ahuja
couple, the Indian immigrants who settled in
England about 45 years ago.

The Indian-born couple,
now in their early 70s recollected their memories
who came to London as newly wedded. “We
arrived with a trifling three pounds in the mid
1970s, which is the amount of money that was
allowed to bring in at that time. Our respect for
the adopted country, its laws, our hard work and
perseverance is what has got us where we are today
in leading a dignified life. All young people can
work towards their goals with persistent
determination and make the most of their
youth,” asserts Mrs. Ahuja.

Elaborating on the
changes that he has witnessed, Mr. Ahuja says
“One of the things that has changed the most
is job opportunity. When I came here, I remember
that if someone walked out of a job, within a
matter of half-an-hour, the person could land up
with another one; as long as one wasn’t shy
of doing the assigned work. There were always
people who thought it was below their dignity to
work in a production unit. But now even those jobs
are gone - there are no manufacturing sites, only
warehouses. The disappearance of manufacturing
units is not a good sign for any country. Due to
this, we are dependent on a country like
China”.

“Made in Britain
is nowhere to be seen. Our manufacturing jobs are
taken up by China and its policy seems to be to
provide low quality goods so that people have to
make purchases again and again. There is no
quality. That is why these days Primark (clothing
retailer chain) is number one in the UK. The
quality of the material used/manufacturing is the
same that is for instance, for Marks and Spencer,
but there is wide disparity in the prices,”
says Mrs. Ahuja.

The land and the people
have changed too, Mr. Ahuja shares “London
has changed quite a lot over the years, any green
corner the developers find, they build a flat over
there. This is because the place has become too
crowded. People are not as honest as they used to
be. Europeans are coming here in search of jobs
but you can see them begging and stealing on
roads. All this could not be seen earlier at the
tourist spots but now things are
changing”.

Talking about the
dissimilarity between the beliefs of the old and
young generation, he says: “This is a
welfare state, which means that the state supports
you where you are hard up. Old people who are hard
up have the right to take help from the state, but
they do not take it. They think it is below their
dignity; they have great self respect and feel as
if they are asking for some kind of a handout
although they are entitled to it. Whereas young
people think it is their right. This is a big
difference in the generations”.

{Below: File Photo}

While Maggie Jones (44, name changed),
whom I met during an evening walk at the famous
Regent’s Park, said: “UK’s
climate has changed drastically and we have
witnessed extremes - the worst flooding and hot
temperatures in the recent past. Technology too,
has taken its toll and now children from 10 years
onwards are busy with their hand
held devices, therefore, there
is less social interaction among various age
groups. An added fear is that of terrorism. Nobody
feels safe going to a public place, especially to
a mall or to the theatre”.

Following the Brexit, I
asked Mr. Ahuja about his opinion. He said:
“The fate of British exit is unknown. I had
voted to stay. Time alone will tell how as a
country it faces up to it. I was talking to my
father this morning and he asked me the same
question. Margaret Thatcher was a very strong lady
and a great Prime Minister, she never wanted to be
in the common market but the cabinet surrounding
her kicked her out. David Cameron, who wanted to
stay in the common market, has just resigned from
the same post. My view is that either we should
not have joined the EU, but if we have joined it,
no big point to come out of it. Now, slowly,
countries like France and Germany are feeling the
same as immigrants are not coming only to England,
they are going all over the
continent”.

“Most of these
countries do not like the English because after
hundreds of years of wars within the European
continent, all of a sudden we want to become
brothers. It is just like today, it will be
unbelievable if India and Pakistan say that we
want to unite because there is so much of enmity
and bad blood that something like this would be
impossible. Moreover, internal politics here was
getting worse as there was a division among people
who wanted to stay and those who wanted to leave".

"People who have voted
to leave are the people of our generation because
they have seen the good times in England and are
not used to seeing so many foreigners coming in.
The young people have voted to stay. Old people
comprise 21% of five crore people which is the
population of this country. The unemployed English
people who don’t want to work have also
voted to come out. But those who are in good jobs
want to stay because their jobs are linked to
Europe. So, this is how the voting pattern has
been. Now, with the exit, we have gone into the
unknown, we do not know what is going to happen,
what will be our financial position. Within two
days, our currency has dipped, the pound has lost
value. Who knows how much it will lose in the
future”.

I wondered
how much more different things would have
been 30-years ago. I thanked them all for the
candid views and bid adios with the hope that the
apparently gloomy new world order will change for
the better soon.